The American Petroleum Institute (API) this week reported an increase in crude oil of 4.150 million barrels, while analysts expected an increase of 333,000 barrels. According to API data, US crude inventories have now risen by 23 million barrels so far this year, a rise made possible only by the release of 166 million barrels from the country’s strategic petroleum reserve.
The construction comes as the Department of Energy released 4.6 million barrels of strategic oil reserves in the week ending September 23, leaving the SPR with 422.6 million barrels.
The previous week, the API reported an increase in crude oil inventories of 1.035 million barrels after analysts had predicted an increase of 2.321 million barrels.
WTI rose on Tuesday ahead of the data release. As of 12:17 p.m. ET, WTI was trading up $1.15 (+1.50%) on the day at $77.86 a barrel, down nearly $7 a barrel on the week. Brent crude was trading up $1.49 (+1.77%) on the day at $85.55, down $5 on the week. Crude oil prices continued to rise throughout the afternoon as producers cut supply ahead of Hurricane Ian and speculation that OPEC+ may cut production targets for November at its next monthly meeting.
U.S. crude oil production data for the week ending September 16 remained at 12.1 million bpd for the fourth straight week, according to the latest weekly data from the EIA.
API reported a decline in gasoline inventories this week of 1.048 million barrels for the week ending September 23, compared to the previous week’s build of 3.225 million barrels.
Distillate inventories rose 1,438,000 barrels for the week, compared to last week’s increase of 1.538 million barrels.
Cushing’s stocks rose 357,000 barrels this week. Last week, the API saw a Cushing increase of 510,000 barrels. The official EIA Cushing inventory for the week ending Sept. 16 was 24.991 million barrels, down from 24.648 million barrels the previous week.
WTI was trading at $78.46 moments after the release, up 2.28% on the day.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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